PurposeThe purpose of this empirical paper is to operationalize the Doz and Kosonen (2010) model of strategic agility, consisting of three dimensions and 15 subfactors and to test its relationship with firm performance under multiple contingencies.Design/methodology/approachA CEO-level survey is conducted to collect a sample of 73 firms from three industries in the US state of Florida. Factor analysis and convergence with similar criterion are used to validate the strategic agility construct. Multiple regression is used to test hypothesized relationships.FindingsThe findings support construct validity of Doz and Kosonen's model. Moreover, firm age and environmental turbulence are found to be important contingency factors. Environmental turbulence is found to moderate the relationship between firm age and strategic agility. Firm age and environmental turbulence are found to jointly moderate the relationship between strategic agility and firm performance.Research limitations/implicationsIt is evident that firms may benefit from strategic agility depending on their age and environment. The results encourage future longitudinal research addressing causality.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to research by validating a more comprehensive model of strategic agility and identifying contingency factors that help to explain prior mixed results on the relationship between strategic agility and performance.

Environmental turbulence is a well-studied contingency of relationships involving firm strategy, structure, and performance. However, it is invariably regarded as a present condition of indeterminate duration. Indeed, some industries are regarded turbulent by their nature with little regard for past, present, or future. What of environmental turbulence which is high in level but short in duration? An empirical study is conducted in the COVID-19 context to investigate how firms respond operationally and strategically to what is perceived to be temporary turbulence. Predictors of both operational and strategic change are found to include the level of turbulence and the firm’s prior experience making changes. The types of operational change associated with performance improvement are adjusting production levels and budgets/spending. The type of strategic change associated with performance improvement is targeting new customers or markets. A conceptual framework incorporating both the level and duration of turbulence is proposed for future study.

This empirical study investigates strategic agility and its relationships with firm age, firm size, and firm performance in SMEs. The Doz and Kosonen three-factor model of strategic agility is operationalized and tested in 30 firms from multiple industries located in the Space Coast region of Florida. It is found that strategic agility decreases as firms grow older but not as firms grow larger. Strategic agility and firm performance are also found to be related as moderated by environmental turbulence. Specifically, performance increases with strategic agility in high turbulence but decreases with strategic agility in low turbulence. This finding is consistent with the view that dynamic capabilities like strategic agility bear a cost which may be unnecessary in stable environments. Overall, the study suggests that SMEs may benefit from strategic agility if it used while they still have it, that is, when they are young.

PurposeThis paper presents an analytical framework for modeling and measuring strategic alignment. The resource-product-market (RPM) model is introduced as a means of representing the alignment of the firm's internal resources with its product lines and external markets. A strategic alignment index is defined to measure the degree of alignment represented by a model.Design/methodology/approachThe RPM model is derived as an extension of prior research on diversification indexes. The strategic alignment index is mathematically defined and the properties of the model are characterized using graph theory. The approach is illustrated for two example firms.FindingsThe RPM model is flexible and can be used with different types and measures of resources, products and markets. The model represents strategy in a structural manner addressing a vertical type of alignment. The index ranges continuously from 0 to 1.0, providing a useful scale for measurement and comparison.Practical implicationsPractitioners may use RPM modeling to assess the current alignment of their respective firms and to identify strategic alternatives which increase alignment through a taxonomy of 13 strategic moves. The results of applying the model to ten firms are summarized.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the literature by providing a new method for modeling firm strategy which integrates resource and industry views, thereby enabling a measurement of their alignment. The paper is also novel in the application of graph theory to management.